Customer service, stakeholder engagement, post-recession ethics, supply chain management. The October edition of Ethical Corporation magazine covers them all. Detailed analysis of the following companies is included: Adidas, Nike, Timberland, Ecover, Kimberly Clark, Royal Bank of Scotland, Arcelor Mittal, John Lewis, Vodafone, Procter & Gamble, Ikea, L'Oreal and more...

Here's an overview of what's covered in October's issue of our print magazine:

News analysis of: Desertec's solar project, Australia's climate bill, The new European Commission, and Norway's oil fund

Features in the October 2009 issue include:

Corporate responsibility after the recession: what your future looks like

• What the board wants from you and your corporate responsibility department in the next three years.
• Review of major trends in corporate sustainability since the credit crunch.
• Why the doomsayers were wrong to write off corporate responsibility.
• How to ensure you emerge stronger than ever as the economy recovers.

Customer service: how to manage your biggest reputational risk
• Why there appears to be no link between good corporate responsibility and strong customer service – and how to change it.
• A look at how companies report on customer satisfaction and how far CR teams are involved in this process.
• The benefits of delegation: how to empower staff who are in direct contact with customers to make decisions, and how to make this happen in your company.
• Why a good reputation for sustainability – tackling climate change, supply chain ethics etc – might cause some companies to overlook the bread and butter of good business, such as spending money on customer service.

Stakeholder engagement: from consultation to collaboration
• Analysis of the new Cranfield how-to guide on engagement
• How to get the most from your dealings with stakeholders and turn these into your best form of market research.
• How to transfer knowledge gained from stakeholder engagement to other business functions in your company

Supply chain management: raw materials
• Adidas, Nike, Timberland are stopping sourcing leather from the Amazon because of concerns about deforestation
• Find out which companies are taking a truly comprehensive approach to their supply chain by managing ethical risks at the raw material stage.
• Profile of electronic companies looking at metals mining; supermarkets looking at farming; clothes retailers looking at cotton; shoemakers looking at leather.
• See how to drive change several steps down your supply chain, and how to collaborate to do it.

The Big interview: Mick Bremans
The CEO of Ecover explains what makes him and his brand tick.

Strategy and management:

Kimberly-Clark: Going greener
After an epic four-year battle with Greenpeace, the world’s biggest tissue maker has pledged to join forces with the campaigner to conserve forests. Kimberly-Clark has pledged to stop sourcing wood fibre from Canada’s Boreal Forest that is not certified as sustainable. In return, Greenpeace has promised to stop its “Kleercut” campaign against the makers of Kleenex. We find out what happened to change the company’s approach.

Royal Bank of Scotland: turning crisis into opportunity
Andrew Cave, sustainability director, explains how RBS has adapted its sustainability work as a result of the financial crisis. He reveals how the bank’s sustainability agenda has become much more focused on core business; how the sustainability team has been involved in managing job cuts; why corporate responsibility is set to emerge from the current economic crisis healthier, and more authentic; and how being partly state-owned adds a new dimension to the bank’s responsibilities to society.

ArcelorMittal: stepping up to the plate
The world’s biggest steel company has its critics. A common complaint is that the world’s largest steel company, formed in 2006 when Mittal Steel acquired Areclor, is more focused on aggressive expansion than on corporate responsibility. The industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world but has been slow to address its climate impacts. What’s more, ArcelorMittal operates in some difficult emerging markets where it faces severe health and safety and corruption risks. A lot of these problems are not of the company’s own making. But some say it could be much more proactive about addressing them. In an exclusive interview with Ethical Corporation, the company’s corporate responsibility team reveals the scale of the challenges they face and how they are working to create a responsible business culture within the steel giant.

Climate strategy and management

John Lewis Partnership: How the UK retailer seeks to rival Marks & Spencer as a green leader.

Procter & Gamble: How the consumer goods giant is adapting existing products, and creating new ones, to meet green sales goals.

Plus...our regular columnists Paul French, Mallen Baker, Peter Knight, Giles Gibbons and of course, Greenwasher.

Our review section this month includes analysis of L’Oreal and Ikea's sustainability reports, a new book on the 'green' recovery, our round up of other new books and useful papers, and our People on the move section.

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